Both incredibly effective and deeply moving, “The Father” could be the first dementia film to give me any real chills. At first glance, a simple and uncomfortably familiar tale about the heartbreaking mental decline of a beloved parent, this feature debut by French novelist and playwright Florian Zeller plays with perspective so intelligently that maintaining any sort of emotional distance is impossible.
The result is a picture many of us might prefer to leave untouched. When we first meet Anthony (Anthony Hopkins), an octogenarian hale living in an upscale London apartment, we’re ready to expect the kind of genteel entertainment that Hopkins has long created. But Zeller, in adapting (with Christopher Hampton) his acclaimed play, has nothing so comfortable in mind; and when Anthony’s middle-aged daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) arrives to tell him that she is moving to Paris to pursue a new relationship, her reaction changes from bewilderment to outright distress.
Anne is worried. Anthony just scared his last caregiver away after accusing her of theft, and a new one must be found. After Anne leaves, he hears a noise in the apartment and discovers a strange man (Mark Gatiss) reading a newspaper. The man claims to be Anne’s husband Paul, but isn’t Anne divorced? And why does the man say Anthony is their guest? Confused and upset, Anthony is relieved to hear Anne return – only now she is played by Olivia Williams and neither we nor Anthony recognize her. Still later, Rufus Sewell appears as a very different, much angrier Paul who will push the tone of the film towards something more complicated and infinitely darker.
Combining mystery and psychodrama, “The Father” is a majestic representation of things that crumble: people, the environment and time itself become more and more slippery. As if to enforce order on the days that keep slipping away from him, Anthony obsessively clings to his watch. Morning turns to twilight in the space of a single breakfast exchange; the conversation ends whenever her second daughter, Lucy, is mentioned. And while audiences will be able to piece together the plot timeline, Zeller’s relentlessly subjective approach puts us in the midst of Anthony’s distorted memories. It’s a brutal and terribly simple technique, backed up by a production design that manipulates the details of its surroundings just enough to make us wonder where – and when – we are.
Whether as Lear or Lecter, Hopkins has never been a particularly physical actor – most of the magic happens above the neck – but here he pushes his capacity for small, revealing gestures and stillness. to agonizing limits. For Anthony, senility doesn’t creep, it bounces, and he responds by freezing until she pulls back. When not, his disorientation manifests in a way that forces Hopkins to stray, sometimes at a penny, from mischievous to rabid and charming to cruel slashing. It’s an amazing and devilish performance, which turns an encounter with Anthony’s new caregiver (a formidable Imogen Poots) into a master class of manipulation.
There is love in “The Father” – most of it radiating from Colman’s wonderfully warm presence – but there is no embedding: compassionate but blunt, the film is more likely to give you nightmares. only hot blurs.
“Do you intend to continue to ruin your daughter’s life?” Paul de Sewell hisses at Anthony at one point, his resentment floating deep in the air. Sewell’s screen time is limited, but crucial, with his injured performance revealing a frayed marriage due to Anthony’s medical condition. That stress translates into a few scenes that shockingly venture close to horror, and maybe it’s appropriate. In a recent interview, Hopkins confessed to being momentarily overwhelmed during filming by a reminder of his own mortality. He probably won’t be the only person with that answer.
The father
Rated PG-13 for its language and painful themes. Duration: Duration: 1 hour 37 minutes. In theaters. Please review the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies in theaters.
